


My Best Friends

by Draco_sollicitus



Series: Short but Sometimes Sweet: Damerey Collection [8]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: But he still wants his best friends to be happy, DameRey, F/M, Finn ships it, Finn's working through some things of his own, Fluff, Locking friends in closets for their own good, Matchmaker BB-8, Matchmaker Finn, Mild Angst, POV Finn, conspiring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-29 20:51:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14480970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draco_sollicitus/pseuds/Draco_sollicitus
Summary: Finn, formerly FN-2187, is now a soldier for the Resistance. He struggles with his reclaimed humanity, and he learns things about himself, and about the galaxy, in his new life.Recently, he's been bothered that he knows something that his two best friends don't.Namely, they love each other.Finn also knows everyone would be a lot happier if they just told each other.





	My Best Friends

**Author's Note:**

> Finn struggles with his identity as human in this, and a lot of his internal monologue sometimes breaks down into something almost detached, and his programming still affects the way he thinks, but not the way he acts/feels. 
> 
> (Basically the idea for this was one thing, a prompt for the couple occupying a small space, such as a prompt offered by [shuns](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shuns/pseuds/shuns), but then it became a Finn POV, and more about the buildup to it/his reasoning for shoving his best friends into a closet).
> 
> ((Don't worry, shuns, you'll get the actual ~adult~ version of that prompt, Poe or Rey POV, someday soon).

FN-2187 is many things. When he forgets that he is a man, and not a tool, or a weapon, he sits and he lists the things that he knows.

FN-2187 lists the things he knows he is, and the things he knows he has:

He is called Finn, now.

Finn is a soldier.

He fights for the Light.

Finn has a cause.

He had a choice; and he made it.

He has never regretted that choice.

Finn knows and has love; her name is Rose Tico [Status: Resistance Mechanic; Brilliant, Loyal], and she is more beautiful than all the stars in the known systems, combined.

(Rose Tico is scary, but in a good way).

He has best friends; their names are Rey [Status: Last of the Jedi; Powerful, kind. Last name: unknown], and Poe Dameron [Status: Resistance Solider; Handsome, kind. Common Moniker – “Best pilot in the galaxy”: debatable, due to existence of Rey, other best friend]. 

FN-2187 sometimes forgets that he is not a machine anymore, but he always knows one, important thing.

His best friends are kriffing idiots.

***

Finn wanders around base one day, a Centaxday, according to his holopad.

The days do not have meaning, not really, not when they are so far underground and regulate themselves based on the specific adherence to Galactic Standard Time. A person can fall asleep at any time in these warren of rooms and offices and bunkers, and it would not make any difference. Still, broken though it is, the Resistance is an army, a military force to be reckoned with, and they will run themselves accordingly.

They might be a lost cause, but it’s Finn’s lost cause, and he will die for it. He almost has, twice now.

“You have to be more careful. The third time you might not be so lucky,” Rose had whispered in his ear the first time they had slept together, and she had trembled with sadness and fear and loss, post-climax; and Finn had tried to remember to be a man long enough to hold her through it, after they had finished.

Finn had not known what _any_ of it was, the first time they tried to sleep together. He had frozen in panic at the feeling in his body, and Rose had noticed because Rose notices everything. And she had held his hand and explained everything, and at the end of it all – the lesson including vids on the holo-pad – she asked, “Would you want that with me?”

And Finn had answered, honestly, “I want all things with you.”

Now, he has shared all things with Rose, and that includes his concern for his best friends [Status: Idiots].

(When he opens his mouth, the words of a man come out, often a funny and pleasant man at that, but sometimes in his head, it is easy to forget. _Who do you serve? The First Order. Who do you know? The First Order. Who do you belong to? The First Order. What is the only thing in this galaxy worth serving? The First Order. What are you? Nothing, unless the First Order wills it._ )

His concern for his best friends is: they do not know they love each other. Finn wishes they would acknowledge this fact, and return to optimal performance, as it is simply logical and _good_ to tell others you love them. Rose had blushed the first time he said the words to her, and they were precious in the air between them, and Finn has never known such happiness. He had held the woman he loved, and all the pieces of him, the ones splintered years ago by masters and captains, fell back into place and sealed back into one, continuous idea that became _Finn, lover of Rose, guardian of the Resistance, friend to all._

Finn wanders around base on a Centaxday, holding a holo-pad, and searching for Rey.

She is not feeling well, he knows, because he had seen her walk off from last night’s revelry with tears in her eyes.

She is not feeling well, he knows, because she had seen Poe kiss another pilot at last night’s revelry, whisky on his breath and a hurt in his heart from a fight he’d had earlier with the last Jedi alive.

His best friends are idiots, and Finn has a simple solution that he thinks all will find satisfactory. It is _easy_ to love, after all. Finn has done so many hard things in his life ( _Fire on my command. Forget that you are a man. You are not a man. You are a weapon. Fire on my command. He failed to report, he must be repaired. Submit your blaster for inspection. Reprogramming, recommended. You are not a man. You are a weapon_ ), but loving Rose is the easiest thing, easier than breathing, and he loves his friends too, and he loves his new life, as challenging as it can be.

Finn does not like it when Poe and Rey feel bad, especially when it is avoidable. So, Finn wanders around to look for Rey, and to suggest to her that maybe it’s time to talk to Poe, so no one cries at revelries anymore.

(Rey had left crying, but Poe had been crying in his room at 01:30 when Finn had shown up to ask him “So, what the hell was that, buddy?” He had even practiced the line before knocking on the door, but when Poe answered, red-rimmed eyes and self-hatred burning in his face, Finn had known what to do. He hugged him, and that seemed to work better than any collection of words).

Revelries are supposed to be parties. Finn did not know he was a man until he was almost twenty-two, but he _does_ know revelries are supposed to be _fun._ If Poe and Rey, to quote Rose Tico, “just get over their stupid ass selves already,” their group can return to normalcy. They might even “double-date,” a delightful word his mechanic taught him.

They pretend things are normal, now, almost eight months after Crait. But every so often, Rey will be careless on a mission, and Poe will try dragging her out of her X-Wing so he can start screaming at her in front of everyone, and Rey’s hand will twitch toward her lightsaber. Every so often, Poe will almost get shot down on a flight, trying to save someone, and Rey will storm towards him in the hangar, and slug him in the chest before pulling him in for a rib-cracking hug.

Every so often, Finn will see Poe staring at Rey in the mess hall as if he wished she would look back at him. Every so often, Finn will see Rey look at Poe at the exact moment he’s already turned away.

Rose calls them “clueless.” Finn calls them “a project.” He can help them, and he wants to. Finn has learned so many things about himself; mostly, he has learned that he likes to help people. Not to be a hero, but so that other people can keep going and be their own heroes.

Finn stumbles into something, engaged in his holo-pad as he is, and he looks down to see an orange and white ball, a droid who has shocked him more times than he’d like to admit.

“Hello, BB-8,” Finn greets. BB-8 is a unique astromech unit – too curious, too unlike the other BB units, which are cautious and wary of people -- but Finn likes him all the same.

They’re both anomalies, bugs in the system. They’re both evidence that the galaxy works the way it wants to, and the end result is often positive. Finn likes to think of himself as a positive.

[Friend Finn] BB-8 chirps at him. Rey had been kind enough to teach Finn Binary a few months ago. He’d picked it up fairly quickly. He’s not good at verbal languages besides Basic; but there is something about the logic and rhythm of Binary that he really likes. Finn enjoys listening to BB-8 trill away now, and he feels like he is “in on the joke,” a phrase Poe Dameron had taught him, when BB makes a comment in passing that no one else understands but their circle of friends.

[What brings you here?] BB rolls away from him and then back to him anxiously. [Hero Rey does not wish to greet anyone right now].

Ah. So he _had_ found Rey. Maybe Finn should add “guessing where angst-ridden Jedi hide” to the list of things he knows he’s good at. “I came to talk to her about Poe.”

[Unwise] BB reports back. [It is not recommended to speak of Master Poe to Hero Rey at this time. Hero Rey threw me across the room when I said his name precisely one hour and twenty three minutes ago.]

“Huh,” Finn sits down and examines BB-8 carefully. The droid rolls forward and fixes its optical unit on him, the lens narrowing down as it focuses. “And what do you think about Poe and Rey, BB? How would you describe their behavior recently?”

[Idiotic] BB-8 answers without hesitation. [They resist the inevitable. Their bodily responses to each other indicate attraction, and Master Poe often cries out in his sleep for Hero Rey, which suggests more than simple infatuation.] Finn blinks at that unexpected information, and BB chirps, more quietly. [I should not have told you that.]

“Probably not,” Finn says, grinning. Grinning is a fun thing to do, as well. It hurt his face the first few times, but it sometimes it feels like he followed Poe Dameron into a TIE-fighter and then never stopped grinning (although logically, he has, many times, because following Poe Dameron meant ‘joy’ erupted in Finn’s life, but it also meant ‘danger’ erupted in Finn’s life).

“But, hey, buddy,” Finn returns his attention to the droid, who looks mopey at its accidental betrayal of its master. “Sounds like you might be interested in helping me fix it.”

[BB-8 is good at fixing things. Does ‘it’ refer to a ship?]

“In a sense.”

***

“Whatever you’re planning, I don’t want any part in it,” Rose says to Finn the next day when he gets out of bed. While dressing, he looks back down at the too-small bunk that they insist on sharing – and it’s a nice excuse to curl up close to her throughout the night – and smiles at the sight of Rose tangled up in a blanket, hair mussed and loose for once, and a scowl on her pretty features.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Finn says cheerfully. He knows exactly what she’s talking about.

“There’s no way to win, babe. If Rey doesn’t kill you, Poe could. If Poe doesn’t kill you, Leia might, for pissing off her two favorite Resistance soldiers.”

“Rey isn’t a soldier,” Finn points out, slipping his military-issued boots on.

“We’re all soldiers.” Rose turns her back to him and stares at the wall. “Whether we want to be or not. We’re all here to fight.”

Finn forgets the silliness of the previous minute when he realizes Rose has woken up upset. He sits back down on the bunk, completely dressed now, and runs a hand along her side. “We’re going to win this by fighting for what we love,” Finn says softly, stroking her hair out of her face so he can peer down at her. Rose sighs and looks up at him, half-smiling now. “Someone really smart told me that.”

“Laser brain,” Rose sniffs, and then turns over onto her back so she can smile at him fully. “Love you.”

“I love you too.” Finn knows that better than anything. He kisses his girlfriend goodbye, pulls the blanket back up to her chin so she can go back to sleep (he reminds her that her shift starts at 13:00, at which point she gives him a rude gesture, one that Rey had taught him), and he leaves.

He is precisely on time to rendezvous with BB-8.

“Ready, buddy?”

[Affirmative] BB spins in an excited circle.

“Alright, you get the pilot, and I’ll get the Jedi.”

Finn walks off to the training room, where Rey’s slicing through practice droids with a blindfold on. He watches her for a few minutes silently, vaguely terrified but also deeply proud of his best friend. She’s a warrior, and when her focus is clear, she’s nearly unstoppable (another reason for her to give up on the distracting, unnecessary tension between herself and Poe Dameron).

“Hey Finn,” she greets him finally, without taking the blindfold off. All the droids lie in scattered remains around the room. “Uh.” She takes the blindfold off and looks around guiltily. “I’ll fix those.”

“Sure you will, Jedi,” Finn snorts. The likelihood of Rey fixing the droids is next to zero, he knows that, she knows that. Rose will probably fix them and grumble the whole time, and Rey will complain that the parts could have been used for something else.

“What’s up?” Rey smiles at him and takes a large swig of water from a canteen at her hip.

“I need to talk to you,” Finn says as seriously as he can. Rey looks concerned and nods, clearly indicating that he should continue. “It’s about Poe…” Rey scowls and kicks a nearby crate.

“Switch off,” she snaps. “Don’t come talk to me on his behalf. He can come talk to me if he wants to. I don’t have anything to say to him, though.”

“No, Rey,” gods, this is going exactly as he planned. “No, he’s sick.”

“What?” Rey blinks at that. “He’s sick? Where? Med Bay?”

“I don’t know what’s wrong with him.” And that statement is actually truthful, so he doubts she can sense anything in the Force right now. “You should come check him out though, he’s refusing to see Kalonia and I’m worried.”

“That kriffing piece of Bantha …” Rey trails off, but she looks concerned. “He is _so_ stubborn. He’s just impossibly stubborn! I don’t know how we put up with him.” She stalks out the door, and Finn follows shaking his head.

“At least he’s the only stubborn person we know,” Finn comments idly.

In front of him, Rey throws her hands up in the air and says, angrily, “I know!” She completely misses the point, which is amusing, because Finn often thinks she’s the smartest person he knows, besides Rose and Leia Organa.

Finn checks his chronometer as they near the agreed upon meeting place; a utility closet with a busted lock mechanism. It’s open, currently, and BB swears it can get it shut in less than two seconds, which is all the time they need. Finn flips over to the transmitter screen on his holo and sees that the blip for BB-8 is approaching rapidly.

“Where is Poe, then? His rooms? The hangar?” Rey keeps stomping forward, and then she’s right in front of the closet.

“There!” Finn shouts, victoriously. “Last time I saw him, he was in there. Getting sick.”

“That motherfu—” Rey walks in and turns around. “He’s not in here anymore, Finn.”

At that exact moment, BB-8 comes screeching around the corner, rolling faster than Finn’s ever seen it move, trying to get off the exploding _Supremacy_ included. [Friend Finn!] it calls. [We may have miscalcu--].

Poe Dameron flies around the corner, looking wild-eyed. He doesn’t control the turn well, and his shoulder slams into the wall. He pushes himself off and keeps sprinting towards Finn, and when he reaches him, he grabs him by the shoulders. “Finn, BB-8 told me, there was an accident? With Rey? He wouldn’t tell me anything else, is she in Med Bay? Is she okay? Gods, tell me she’s okay, tell me she’s fine, fucking hells, I can’t do this, Finn, buddy, why aren’t you answering me?”

“Because I’m fine, you nerf herder,” Rey comments from inside the closet.

“What?” Poe turns around and pales in a moment. “Holy mother of – Rey, Beebee said you were _hurt,_ are you really—”

“Okay, time for you two to talk it out!” Finn proclaims, grabbing Poe by the shoulders and heaving him in the closet. “Now, BB!” Poe turns around, spluttering, after running into Rey, and BB-8 jabs a small metal arm into the control panel of the door, which hisses shut with a surprisingly finality.

“What the kark do you think you’re doing, Finn?” Rey screams, slightly muffled by the durasteel. Oh gods, he just pissed off the most powerful woman alive. He’s going to die, isn’t he. Finn knows what fear is, and he knows he’s afraid of Rey, just as much as he loves Rey.

“This is for your own good!” He proclaims, banging on the door. “You two aren’t coming out until you talk to each other.”

“About what?” Poe shouts, banging on the door right back. “Finn, buddy, let us out, don’t trap me in here.”

“You? Trapped in here? We’re both trapped in here! Or do you just mean you’re trapped in here _with me.”_

“Oh, don’t misunderstand what I said on purpose, you know that’s not what I meant,” Poe snaps. There’s another bang on the door. “C’mon, Finn, she has her lightsaber with her, she might actually kill me.”

“Don’t tempt me, flyboy.”

Finn gives it half an hour after the screaming subsides – Rey and Poe had both shouted themselves hoarse at the other, Rey clearly too pissed at Poe to remember that she’s a kriffing Jedi and could probably undo the locking mechanism of the door if she needed to – and then he opens the door. The sight that greets him is slightly unexpected, but certainly proves Finn right.

Rey looks up when the door opens, her legs wrapped around Poe’s waist, hands tangled in his dark curls. Poe does not look up from where he is kissing Rey’s neck, his strong hand at her shoulder, his other hand out of sight and doing Force knows what. Rey smirks at Finn and mouths, “I’m going to kick your ass later,” before tugging Poe’s head back so she can kiss him on the mouth, deeply, her hand cupping his jaw. Finn watches in amusement as the best pilot in the galaxy surrenders to the kiss, and the last Jedi waves her hand idly and slams the door shut between Finn and the new couple.

Well, it took long enough, but at least Poe and Rey now know what Finn has known for months.

“They really are idiots, huh,” Finn says to the droid at his feet.

[Confirmed, Friend Finn].

“But they’re _our_ idiots.”

[Affirmative]

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, Finn. 
> 
>  
> 
> This isn't even the Matchmaker AU. That's one where Poe tries to set Rey up on dates while falling in love with her himself (nervous laughter, it already hurts).


End file.
